Snowed in Seattle style

Thank goodness for Julie's dad's pad in Seattle. We got to see an amazing show on our way home from Bellingham and get cozy on the couch

Of Snow and Laundry

I know we've said it here, and elsewhere, and surely we will continue to say it over and over in other venues: touring is great fun. Our weekend in Bellingham, WA, hosted by the great students and faculty at Western Washington University, was fun for all the expected reasons and then a few unexpected ones as well. Namely: snow.



The car full of H2M actors arrived in Bellingham at 11:00am on Friday morning, having somehow managed to leave Portland at a bleary-eyed 6am. We went straight to our favorite co-op for a fuel-up before descending on the Old Main Theater. It was such a treat to return to the same theater where, in November 2008, we performed Repeat After Me (the experience of performing RAM with all of it's USA love/hate pathos was amazing in the high of the post-Obama election, but that is for another time). I love walking into the theater and seeing our little set waiting for us with open arms, the lights hung, and the tech crew reaching for their 4th coffee of the day.

We had the fastest and smoothest tech yet of this tour and then curled ourselves into blankets and sleeping bags for a pre-show nap. It is amazing how comfortable a theater floor can be. The Friday night audience was hyped up for sure, laughing and exclaiming at lines and moments I didn't even know existed. I thought we must have really been on fire to have elicited such a reaction and while I don't want to play down our excellent and energetic performance, it became clear as soon as we left the theater that the audience was hyped up by what was happening outside: huge beautiful snow flakes!

There were a few inches on the ground by the time we left the theater, and it took some kind souls pushing and hopping on the hood of our car to make it downtown for our post-show celebration. Liz and I were staying with a few WWU students who had the foresight to live part-way up a very steep hill. Thankfully, we also had the foresight to leave our car parked at the bottom of the hill and get a ride home. The next morning's walk, however, was a little tricky.

Saturday we taught a workshop for WWU students and alums and spent the afternoon resting in front of the fire and eating soup at the home of the amazing Rich and Kendall. Saturday's show was followed by the fastest stike ever thanks to the WWU students (is it clear yet how amazing they were) and the strangest quesadillas ever.

On Sunday, while the tech team drove home to Portland, the actors stayed in Seattle to visit our favorite NW presenters On the Boards, see Ralph Lemon's amazing How Can You Stay Inside the House All Day and Not Go Anywhere?, and stay up until 5am dancing. There was so much love we made the snow fall again.

Now, back in Portland, the only thing left to do was wash the costumes. Nothing brings back those special tour moments more than this:

Nutria Revisited

Faith wrote a lovely post on our tour to Eugene in October, including our late-night nutria sighting.

Now we get word from the New York Times, that nutria may be the new "guilt-free fur". This gets me thinking that perhaps Hand2Mouth's next fundraising event shouldn't be a cake sale/bake sale, but a nutria hunt-down and stitch-up. Perhaps our Uncanny Valley costumes could be less space-age and more Davey Crocket? Maybe we can realize our true DIY nature with a little help from, er, nature.

Or, maybe not.

Fond memories of California

So, as we mentioned, our trip to Blue Lake, California to perform Everyone Who Looks Like You was lovely.

Some highlights:

+ Scones at Bob & Martha's house.
+ Sitting in on a class at Dell'Arte while students showed (and critiqued) each others' work.
+ $10 pitchers, a honky tonk piano and walls covered with saws at The Logger.
+ Listening to Michael Fields, producing artistic director and a master teacher at Dell'Arte, reminisce about writing plays at the Logger in the '80s.
+ The beautiful Mad River, which I'm sure is delightful to swim in during the summer.
+ Burgers, chili, delicious crepes and good conversation at Stardough's Cafe.

And on the drive home, some of us stopped along the way to take pictures.

We posed as H2M: BAND on the beach.

We came upon a field of elk!

And of course we communed with trees & nature & shit.

Next up on the touring train: Bellingham, Washington

We're visiting Western Washington University for the first time since performing Repeat After Me there two years ago. We were blown away then by the passion & intelligence of the students (and their teacher, Mr. Rich Brown), and we can't wait to return.

And after that... Everyone Who Looks Like You is coming home to Portland.

Speaking of which... have you seen the video trailer yet?

Everyone Who Looks Like You - Holiday Trailer from Hand2Mouth Theatre on Vimeo.

H2M Christmas Album

So, we're putting together a Hand2Mouth Greatest Hits CD, featuring songs from our shows over the last five years (My Mind Is Like An Open Meadow, Uncanny Valley, Everyone Who Looks Like You, Undine, Repeat After Me, City of Gold...)

But then Liam Kaas-Lentz, stage manager extraordinaire and an awesome person all around, suggested we make a Christmas CD.

Actually what he said was:

I just think the world is a worse place without the following tracks on a H2M Christmas CD:

1) Undine singing "Holly Jolly Christmas"
2) David Chandler reading "Twas The Night Before Christmas"
3) Getting Jonathan WASTED DRUNK and having him karaoke "Jingle Bell Rock"
4) The RAM crew singing Toby Keith's "Blame it on the Mistletoe"
5) The EWLLY ladies singing...well...anything.
6) Jerry rapping "Christmas in Hollis" by Run DMC

I don't think we're going to get around to doing this... but man, it would be fun.

H2M on tour

Stay tuned for photos & recollections of our trip to Dell'Arte in Blue Lake, California! We had a wonderful time there.

In the meantime, this kind of gives you a picture of what it's like when H2M is on tour together: